Coronavirus Upticks Keep LIJ Forest Hills Hospital On High Alert

FOREST HILLS, QUEENS — As the city Health department monitors an uptick in coronavirus cases across five Central Queens ZIP codes, the hospital in the heart of that cluster is steeling itself for a possible second wave in the pandemic.

Long Island Jewish Forest Hills, which at one point during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic saw 73 deaths in a week, hasn't seen the nearby increase in cases become reflected within its walls, according to Dr. Teresa Murray Amato, the hospital's chair of emergency medicine.

Some recent days have seen one or two patients with the coronavirus admitted to the hospital. Many days, there are zero, Amato told Patch.

One day last week was marked by an increase in walk-in patients testing positive for the virus, prompting a series of emergency meeting among hospital officials, but Amato said that day seemed to be an outlier.

Still, the hospital is preparing for the worst, using lessons learned from the springtime peak of New York City's pandemic.

"You want to be very proactive," Amato said.

Hospitals have plans for what to do when they are running out of space, equipment or staff. Amato said, since the spring, LIJ Forest Hills has lowered its threshold for when it will put those plans into action.

"We’d rather do that and be ahead of the curve instead of at it and chasing it," she said.

The hospital is also prepared to rapidly increase its number of ICU beds, if needed, and has simplified the process of transferring patients to other facilities in the Northwell Health system, which runs LIJ Forest Hills.

The city is monitoring five Central Queens neighborhoods where COVID-19 cases are increasing and a greater share of residents is testing positive, including three areas where cases of the virus grow at "alarming" rates, the Health Department said this week.

In response to the upticks in Central Queens, the city is sending more testing resources to the neighborhood and conducting increased enforcement of health and safety guidelines to curb the spread of the virus, officials said.

Amato said residents should stay vigilant but calm, and continue wearing their masks, following social distancing guidelines and washing their hands.

“It’s not the time to panic," Amato said. "I don’t want people panicking because they see these numbers. I want them to be mindful."